” The Department of Motor Vehicles is so overwhelmed with requests for new driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations that it can take up to three months to get an appointment or a half-day wait in the lobby.

A DMV spokesman told KCAL9 Political Reporter Dave Bryan there has been a crush of applications for new licenses for undocumented immigrants, a program that began earlier this month. The spokesman said the DMV is working to address the problems, but some people are having to take a day off of work to handle a 15-minute transaction.

At the Hollywood DMV office, where they handle drivers license issues, the long lines outside and packed waiting areas inside are testimony to the long, grueling process that California drivers have to endure before getting service.

For example, Jose Quiroz’s DMV ordeal spanned two days of waiting patiently with his family to have his license renewed.

“ Yesterday, I was here for four hours standing outside, and when I got to the front line they said that they were not taking us in no more,” Quiroz told Bryan. “And now I am back here again, because I am here to fix my license, and I have been here five or six hours.”

Quiroz says he called about a week ago to try to expedite the process.

“ I tried to make an appointment, but they wanted to give it to me in June,” he said. “That was the earliest they had, so that’s why I’m here. Because I can’t risk getting pulled over because I have my kids. I have to get my kids to school.” “

” New Hampshire’s highest court ruled Wednesday that the state violated the free speech rights of a man who wanted “COPSLIE” on his license plate.

In a unanimous decision, the state Supreme Court agreed with the arguments of David Montenegro, who wanted the plate to protest what he calls government corruption.

State law prohibits vanity plates that “a reasonable person would find offensive to good taste.” But the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union argued that the law is unconstitutionally vague and gives too much discretion to a person behind a Department of Motor Vehicles counter.

New Hampshire had argued that state workers were right to deny the plate, because the phrase disparages an entire class of people — police officers.”

” Missouri schools will be encouraged to teach first-graders a gun safety course sponsored by the National Rifle Association as a result of legislation signed Friday by Gov. Jay Nixon.

The new law stops short of requiring schools to teach the Eddie Eagle Gunsafe Program. But by putting it in state law, Missouri is providing one of the stronger state-sanctioned endorsements of the NRA-sponsored firearms safety course, which the group says is taught to about 1 million children annually.

The legislation also transfers the responsibility for issuing identification cards for concealed gun permits from driver’s license clerks to local sheriffs. That change was prompted by concerns that the state licensing agency’s procedures had infringed on people’s privacy rights.”

” South Carolina is considering a proposal, still in its early stages, to switch from metal license plates to new electronic license plates, or e-tags, as a way to improve highway safety.

“It’s the first of its kind,” says David Findlay, co-founder of Compliance Innovations, the South Carolina company that created the e-tags. “It’s not an LCD or an LED. What it’s made of is electronic paper. It’s a new technology that allows you to hold the image with no power whatsoever for over 10 years. The only time it needs power is when you’re changing the status or the image on the plate.”

That power comes from the vibrations of your car, and from a transparent film over the tag that collects solar power.

The reason e-tags should improve highway safety is because the tags would be electronically linked to the DMV, so if a driver’s license has been suspended or his insurance has lapsed, the DMV would send a signal to the license plate. The word “SUSPENDED” or “UNINSURED” would appear on the license plate.

If your car is stolen, the DMV could make the tag read “STOLEN”. The state could also use the tags during Amber Alerts or other emergencies.”

” But here’s the thing: can you imagine another context in which anyone would think it appropriate to publish a map showing the names and addresses of residents, along with anyinformation about them? Suppose a newspaper published a map that identified all the homes where no adult male lives, so that thieves and rapists would know just where to go. Or a map showing how many television sets belong to each homeowner. Or how about automobiles? The Department of Motor Vehicles collects information about the automobiles that belong to each household. Can you imagine the outcry if a newspaper obtained that information from the DMV and published an online map identifying by name and address the occupants of each house, and describing by make and model all of their motor vehicles? That, too, could be of great value to thieves, but beyond that, is there anyone who wouldn’t consider such an act an outrageous invasion of privacy?

And yet somehow, the liberals who publish the Journal News thought it was perfectly acceptable to publish a map identifying local gun owners, with names and addresses. The fact that anyone tries to defend this action illustrates how the mere thought of a firearm sends some people around the bend. “